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Thursday, March 29

Went to my usual fortnightly craft group yesterday, but spent so much time chatting, shopping and eating raspberry roulade that all I came away with was a template for a small handbag embellishment. Bought some black and white peel-offs that I'd seen advertised and couldn't leave without a little bag of beads and charms.

I have managed to make some quick easter cards. Quick Cards Made Easy are giving away DCWV floral papers as the current subscription gift and there is a very small picture of some card ideas. (The design on the blue card is taken from the mag.) All I've added is a sheet of egg peel-offs, some greetings and a few bits and bobs. Quick to do and not too many materials to carry around (I did them whilst having a cup of coffee and a chat).

My storage unit won't be with me until at least 10 April - boo hoo, but I have got some little sparkly things on the way to keep me going until then.

Up-to-date with all my orders for things so have some time to work on a few competition entries as well as a scrapbook that I'm going to re-cover (also seen in a mag).

Monday, March 26

There's been a lot of chat on the blogs recently about unsuccessful competition entries so I thought I would post a picture of this card. I entered it in the QVC Spring/Summer competition under the title 'Spring Blossoms'. I was really pleased to see it on the wall behind the presenters, but realised that probably meant I hadn't won. I'm still really pleased with it and it doesn't deter me from trying again, I have had successes - just not this time.

I coloured the pale background papers with Distress Ink pads. The green paper is my current favourite DCWV textured card. The tree is stamped using a bamboo image from the Asian See-D pack. The individual blossoms were inked, stamped on spare paper, then stamped on the card to get a pale image. Extra flowers were added using 3d foam after they were clear embossed and coloured with watercolours. The flowers were finished off with Papermania sticky jewels. The buckle is from TLC and is coloured with glimmer chalks.

I have entries for other competitions in the pipeline, so fingers crossed.

Sunday, March 25

After posting my last entry I was browsing the net looking at Glen sites. I had forgotten they are cute, cute puppies. Have scanned on a couple of images of Squit-the-Dog which are waiting in my file to be scrapped (I just haven't found the right papers yet).Also found a site dedicated to the Cleary's, the couple who I bought my puppy from in 1999.Sadly, they have both passed away now, but the site shows how they dedicated a good deal of their lives to this feisty little(big) breed.Not much crafting has gone on this weekend, just more spring cleaning. Hope to hear on Monday about the things I currently have on order.... if only things could arrive as speedily as you can order them! Have a couple of Easter projects on at the moment, hopefully they will be completed for my next post. Although, looking at my diary I have a jewelry order that needs finishing and a tribute tag for a fellow crafter that needs completing by Wednesday. Thank goodness for school, I should get some me time to be creative whilst my 2 are out...... On no! only a week until the Easter holidays I need to find some - keep them busy - without too much mess - without needing constant supervision - activities. Kate

Friday, March 23

I thought I would do a little feature on a member of the family - Squit-the-Dog.She is a Glen of Imaal terrier, which is apparently a rare Irish breed. Personally I think she may be rare as she is a right royal pain in the backside.

One of her favorite hobbies is running up large vets bills. Her most recent escapade earnt her the new nickname. She had a late night raid on the dustbin right after we had smoked mackeral for tea. Then at 5.30am the following morning she escaped from the garden and raided the bins of the local takeaways (a kebab house and an indian). I needn't detail how ill she was! The vet referred to her diet as 'cosmopolitan' and prescribed antibiotics and the doggy equivalent of diorolyte - both of which she hated. She has spent a lot of time feeling sorry for herself and lost quite a bit of weight (the dog that is not the vet).

For the layout I have used DCWV card which has bright colours with a white core so you can sand it down to good effect ( I have also done this a little with the photograph). The checked paper is American Traditional Designs which came in a pack with the co-ordinating buttons (also sanded a bit). The flowers and metal tag are from Papermania.

The horses head story happened just after Christmas.

Small-n-Grubby had a hobbyhorse which he left lying around. The leg, stick (whatever it's called) was trodden on and the plastic inside shattered. I managed to move it to the kitchen (by way of a stepping stone to the dustbin) and propped it up at the back of the computer. At some point it has slid down and landed in madam's bed where she now snuggles up with it. Now I will have a fight on my hands to get rid of it as both dog and boy are against me! Kate

Thursday, March 22

Have been ill in bed, being fed soup and feeling sorry for myself, definately unable to craft.I had planned to tidy my craft area as it is taking over the bedroom. I have some of the 12" x 12" Artbin Super Satchel boxes which are great, but if you've stacked them on end and they fall over on your toes it hurts....a lot. I have taken the plunge and ordered a customised mobile unit from http://www.storage4crafts.com. I've chosen the pale blue one which I hope will blend in with some weathered wood stuff I have.

I have been able, from my sickbed, to look at my other storage problem - magazines. They are sneaky. I think they are secretly planning world domination. I have piles of them everywhere.Whenever I think I will be ruthless and throw some old ones away I rediscover articles I have forgotten and then I can't part with them. Some have definately gone into the recycling today (after I tore out a few bits I couldn't possibly chuck). There will never be enough time to try all the ideas in these articles, but you just know that something will come up and you will need the one you threw out last week. I have started a book with the magazine issue number and details of the key articles I liked - otherwise I can never find the ones I remember reading and end up leaving the whole lot in a mess all over the floor.

As I don't have enough boxes to fill my mobile unit I hope to stack another pile of magazines in the bottom of that too!

Feeling a bit better this evening so, fingers crossed, I will get some crafting done.

Monday, March 19

It's been a busyweek to start my blog. An Easter Fair at the local school sent me rushing to my local craft shop for last minute stash. I discovered the new Treasure Box stamps from Creative Expressions had arrived. After caressing and admiring them I found myself agreeing to do some samples for the shops fortnightly craft group (well work is work Easter Fair or not).

So all this work on and Small-And-Grubby (see profile) swells up with an angry red rash. It's not the first time but we still don't know what triggers it. He's been sick on both my duvets plus his own bed!! I have washing in the garden, on the heaters, in the living room, kitchen, bathroom....... you get the picture. Anyway in all this chaos I have managed to finish some treasure boxes.

I used the larger 'windsong' stamp. This is a big stamp (man you is a biiiiiiig stamp), so it really needs some welly. The way I tackle this is at the kitchen worktop. Stand close to the worktop, get on tip-toe and really lean down on it. Hold the stamp still with one hand and make sure you press over the whole image with the other hand.

This box has got 5 sides, is stamped with black versa fine ink andis coloured with water colour pencils.The next picture is of a 3 sided box, silver embossed and coloured with twinkling H2O's.

You can make the boxes with flat tops if you cut around the lines on the flaps. To make the triangle box lie flat you need to cut right down to the smallest of the semi-circles (which you can see on the picture on the left).

I've left both of mine with the flaps on and folded them one over the other.

My next task is to make one of Shimelle's Lucky scrapbooks (follow the link from her blog to the Fiskateers page). Will post the results soon.